Delusion Chapter 6

DISCLAIMER: I will most likely forget to put it up again so read carefully so I don't get sued: I don't own the HP characters. I'm merely playing with them. I do, however, own the plot. Please don't take it.

Hermione scowled as she sat down at her favorite spot in the library. Make friends with Pansy? Obviously Draco was out of his bloody mind…in fact, she'd always thought he was a little on the loony side…

She groaned.

How in Merlin's name was she going to complete such a task?

For once, Hermione decided to forgo homework. After all, Harry's well being was more important than a three-foot long page of parchment on wizards of the eighteenth century.

Suddenly she realized she had no clue where to find Pansy. It wasn't as if she could just barge into the Slytherin common room and ask if any of the gits had seen her.

In fact, if she knew Pansy, she was probably in the middle of a heated snog-fest. Slut of the school…and Hermione had to befriend her?

"I should be hexing her," Hermione muttered.

After careful deliberation, Hermione decided to find Harry. After all, he was the cause of all this…working with Malfoy crap. He probably knew where Parkinson was.

She found Harry reading some Quidditch magazine in the common room. "Hey," she said, sitting down next to him.

"Hey," he replied, without bothering to take his eyes off the magically enhanced text of the magazine.

"Harry, look up when people are talking to you. It tends to be good manners."

He grinned sheepishly and shut the magazine. "Sorry," he said quickly. "How can I be of assistance?"

"Oh, Harry, stop. I just wanted to know where Pansy Parkinson was?"

"How should I know?"

"Hmm…maybe because you've had your tongue down her throat before?"

Harry scowled. "Hermione, give it a rest. I swear it was a mistake. Anyhow, I've told you already, she's changed…"

"Changed my arse. But let's not have this conversation now, really. All I want to know is, where do you think she would be right now?"

"Why don't you talk to her at dinner? That's only fifteen minutes from now."

Hermione, who had been poised to say something, stopped with her jaw opened. She felt so stupid; it wasn't often that she missed the obvious, after all. "Oh. Yes. I will."

* * * * * * *

Draco sauntered down to the Great Hall, knowing that his arrogant walk would turn many a girl's head. He heard an all too familiar voice behind him and turned. Pansy slid into a comfortable walk next to him and began chattering away.

"Draco, I haven't seen you all day!"

"What are you talking about? You're in my house! We have the same classes!"

"Not like that. I mean in a leisurely way."

He scowled, having no desire to spend his free time in the presence of Pansy.

"Anyhow, we need to talk about this little bet, darling boyfriend of mine."

"I don't know, Pansy. I think I might just win," he smirked, taking pleasure at her little look of surprise.

"How can you even think that, Draco? After all, Potter is more than ready to have sex with me."

Draco was glad that they had finally reached the Great Hall. This was definitely a conversation he was not willing to pursue.

********

After dinner, during which she had endured countless Quidditch debates, Hermione slipped off to roam the halls for Pansy. Never in a million years would she have thought she would actually be looking for Pansy.

As luck would have it, Hermione was able to find Pansy in the corridors leading to the Slytherin common room.

"Hey, Pansy," she called out.

Pansy turned around slowly so that her blonde hair flipped behind her. Hermione mused if Pansy always turned around that way, just in case some boy was watching.

She looked awfully surprised to see Hermione standing there. "What?" she asked suspiciously. Hermione wanted to laugh. Until of course, she remembered that she had absolutely nothing to say to Pansy.

"Um… I like those shoes!"

Hermione bit her lip in an effort to keep from groaning. Pansy's sharp pink stilettos would never fit into a good category for herself, but if she was going to be friends with Pansy, she might as well get used to these sorts of tastes…hopefully Harry would hurry up and get over his infatuation so that everything could go back to normal.

Pansy twisted her foot in unease. Once again, Hermione had to fight the urge to laugh.

"You basically came down here to tell me that?" Pansy asked slowly.

"Er…well, you know me and my bad fashion sense. I've never seen shoes like them. They're so…bright." Hermione mentally slapped herself. She could have thought of a better adjective…bright, indeed…Pansy wasn't going to buy this.

"True," Pansy said. "You have terrible fashion sense."

"I know."

Hermione sighed. The only way to befriend Pansy was a joint effort in making fun of…Hermione herself.

"But you got something done over the summer, no?"

"Cousin's wedding. She made me not frizz my hair, and the spell I got is supposed to last for a year."

"That's all you changed?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it must have cost you a fortune. Your hair was a nest of frizz."

Hermione racked her brains for another conversation. She really did not want to discuss how much money she'd spent on de-frizzing her head, which was still, by the way, quite curly…although it had grown out, and the curls had tamed rather naturally.

"Er, where did you get those shoes?" Great, Hermione thought. Back to the shoes again. Why couldn't she think of anything else, goddamn it?

"Oh these? Merlin's Mukluks. I doubt you could afford them."

"No, I probably couldn't," Hermione agreed faintly.

"Hey," Pansy said suddenly. "You did the History of Magic essay, right, on the wizards of what was it…"

"Eighteenth century? Well, I did half."

"How long is it supposed to be?"

"I think two feet but I've already gotten to three…and I've only done half! I better go finish, I'll see you around Pansy!"

"Er…you too."

As Hermione raced to her common room, she couldn't help but let out a chuckle at Pansy's bemused expressions.

*******

Draco was relaxing in the common room when a very frazzled looking Pansy just came in. Draco smirked; he was pretty sure Granger had done a little bit of talking.

"What's up?" he asked casually.

"The weirdest thing just happened…"

"Do tell."

"Well…Granger came up to me and told me she liked my shoes."

Draco let out a guffaw. Leave it to Granger, he thought. Oh, just leave it to Granger. This was going to work so well…

A/N: To those of you that asked, that twinge of humor is intentional. I'm glad you enjoy it. Please REVIEW, believe me I wasn't planning on updating this story for weeks but since I got reviews I felt more excited to do so. Thanks to all reviewers, I hope you liked this chapter, I know not much happened but I felt it was necessary. Plus Pansy is now officially confused.